Awards team

Lan has held a variety of roles since joining the Foundation team in 2016. Currently she manages the delivery of the Princess Royal Training Awards and is responsible for ensuring all elements of the programme run like clockwork. This involves managing the project timeline and logistics, managing Assessor schedules, overseeing marketing and communications activity and having oversight of the delivery of the annual Award Ceremony. You’ll also often see Lan supporting applicants at an Award support workshop.

Lan is particularly interested in making ongoing improvements to the award process to ensure that the Awards remain relevant to employers and continue to meet stakeholders’ needs.

Lan says: “It is a joy to see the profound impact these Awards have on the recipients, and how much it means to them to achieve the standard of excellence. I look forward each year to celebrating more and more organisations across all sizes and sectors.”

Michael is the Special Adviser and Skills Ambassador for City & Guilds. With over twenty five years of service, he looks after relationships with major stakeholders and partners. He works to brings people and organisations together so that they can collaborate effectively and develop long-term and sustainable partnerships.

He is especially involved in working with the City & Guilds President HRH The Princess Royal and was instrumental in creating the Princess Royal Training Awards. Michael delivers many of the Award support workshops and is known for putting recipients at ease in his role as Master of Ceremonies at the annual Award Ceremony.

Michael says: “It’s an absolute privilege to be part of the Princess Royal Training Awards team and offer employers royal recognition for their commitment to training. We appreciate all the hard work that goes into applying and we are committed to making the experience as positive and as useful as possible. And as for the celebration at the Palace – that’s the icing on the cake for all of us!”

Stuart manages the Foundation’s digital strategy and is passionate about using technology to improve user experience across the Foundation’s award and grant application processes. He has been key to digitising the Princess Royal Training Awards’ application and assessment procedures, building the website and introducing a CRM system. 

Stuart is passionate about continually evolving the Award application process from beginning to end and utilising new technologies to create the best possible experience for applicants. He is also kept busy responding to webchat and email queries when Award applications are open.

Stuart says: “Working on the Princess Royal Training Awards has been one of the best things I’ve done in my career. I love helping applicants tell their stories and work on improving the process each year so it’s as easy as possible for them to do that.”

Mike is responsible for the maintenance and continuous development of the Foundation’s digital channels, including maintaining the website, online forms, and internal intranet pages, and providing digital enablement for the marketing and communications of the Princess Royal Training Awards. He is also responsible for creating the Foundation’s quarterly newsletter.

Mike is passionate about diversity and inclusion, and founded an LGBTQ+ Community Support Group at City & Guilds. He can often be found ensuring that email campaigns run smoothly or adding new functionality to the Award website to provide the best experience possible for applicants

Mike says: “Being able to support the Awards and hear our applicant’s fantastic stories is so inspiring particularly from those organisations that go on to receive an additional commendation for their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Jennifer is responsible for the development and implementation of a new awards programme celebrating individual learners, tutors and trainers which will build on the success of the Foundation’s existing programmes. She is especially focused on building, activating and maximising a new recognition programme to celebrate and highlight success across the network and ultimately to deliver impact.

Jennifer was instrumental in launching the Princess Royal Training Awards in Ireland in 2023 and used her extensive networks to encourage Irish-based organisations to apply.

Jennifer says: “Being part of the team running the Awards is an amazing opportunity to witness organisations and individuals passionate about skills development coming to the fore and having the opportunity to celebrate them and share best practice. It’s what excites me about my job and I feel very lucky to be part of it!”

Natasha is responsible for developing strong and impactful relationships with the City & Guilds Foundation’s audiences. She is instrumental to the ongoing delivery of the Foundation Collective: a network of key stakeholders, with ambitious targets to create an influential, collaborative and creative forum.

Natasha also helps to lead the growth strategy for existing groups, focusing in particular on the Princess Royal Training Awards alumni network. Her work is critical in developing, reactivating and maximizing relationships with Award alumni, ensuring that recipients journeys don’t end when they receive their Award.

Natasha says: “Getting to know Award recipients and making sure that they stay connected with us and their peers through the Foundation Collective, is such a rewarding part of my role. It ensures that we continue to learn and share best practice in learning and development.”